A History of Aquatic Park

The Japanese have a word for appreciating transient moments of natural beauty.  According to Wikipedia, the word Yugen "suggests [something] beyond what can be said but is not an allusion to another world.  It is about this world, this experience .... The exact translation of the word depends upon context."  Zeami Motokiyo suggests these as examples of Yugen:

"To watch the sun sink behind a flower clad hill

To wander on in a huge forest without thought of return

To stand upon the shore and gaze upon a boat that disappears in the distance

To contemplate a flight of wild geese seen and lost among the clouds"

Yugen experiences abound at Aquatic Park.  They provide one of the five sources for the endorphin cocktail that makes the club experience so addictive.  It is easy today to take these experiences for granted.  However, the creation of an "aquatic park" on the site of Black Point Cove was a complicated and combative process.  At one time the location was the setting for foundries and smelters.  Real estate development interests saw the area as a potential extension of the Fisherman's Wharf area:  a paved-over site for more restaurants and T-shirt shops.

Book Cover

Bill Pickelhaupt, in his book San Francisco's Aquatic Park, tells the story of the evolution of this site.  Rich with pictures and detailed captions, Mr. Pickehaupt's meticulously researched prose spins a tale fascinating to anyone who treasures this particular corner of the world.  He has kindly granted me permission to reprint the introduction to his book here:

"San Franciso's Aquatic Park is unique in San Francisco as one of the city's very few underappreciated spots of great beauty.  Located just to the west of the hustle and bustle of Fisherman's Wharf, Aquatic Park's daytime serenity is surpassed only by the thrilling glitter of Tiburon and Belveder's lights, reflected in San Francisco Bay as one stands on the Promenade of the park at night.  An even better view of the bay from Marin and Contra Costa counties can be gained from Muni Pier.  The people of San Francisco and the Bay Area in general were almost robbed of this wonderful park, as the conflict between development and recreation raged from more than a century in the little cove.

Pioneer Woolen Mills

"Known as Black Point Cove because of the dark shade of the trees in Fort Mason (the cove's westerly boundary), the location was isolated from the settlement of Yerba Buena and Mission Dolores during the gold rush.  Even as these settlements became San Francisco in the 1850s and 1860s, Black Point Cove was considered remote enough to allow establishment of the Pioneer Woolen Mills and the Selby Smelter, and far enough away from the reach of the law to host several highly illegal bare-knuckled boxing matches in post-Civil War San Francisco.  Yet the commercial interests shared the cove with a hearty breed: swimmers flocked to the shores of Black Point Cove and many small swim houses catered to the needs of these men and women, boys and girls.

"The San Francisco Daily Alta noted in 1869 that a man named William Lenz had drowned while swimming from 'Charley's' swim house in the cove and that the cove had been a popular beach for those fond of saltwater swimming 'for a long time.'  Around 1867, Carleton Watkins took a stereoview of a group of four young boys, naked as the day they were born, letting the surf break over their feet, as the boldest among them moves hesitantly into the chilly water (even after a long warm spell in summer, the temperature of the bay usually does not exceed 65 degrees Fahrenheit).  The most famous victim of the waters of Black Point Cove was banker William C. Ralston, who perished in the cove on a line with Tonquin Street the day he lost control of and was booted out of the Bank of California.

State Belt Railroad Fort Mason Tunnel

"The little swim houses and woolen mill fell into decline as the 1880s came to an end, but the decision of the Dolphin Swimming and Boat Club to move from the foot of Montgomery Street (now known as Columbus Avenue) to build a new boathouse at the foot of Van Ness Avenue held enormous importance for Black Point Cove.  Even though the contemporary Sanborn Insurance Map described Van Ness Avenue as 'impassible by (horse) teams,' visionaries at the club saw a water park for the recreation of the citizens of San Francisco.  In 1908, the Dolphins were joined by the South End Rowing Club and the Ariel Rowing Club, both driven from a short stay in Central Basin (near Mission Rock at the foot of Sixteenth Street) by the State Board of Harbor Commissioners.  San Francisco's development interests, particularly along the waterfront, saw the catastrophe of the 1906 earthquake and fire as a great opportunity to fill in shallow parts of the waterfront.  After Long Bridge and Mission Bay (the north side of which would be where Pac Bell Park is now situated) were filled in and disappeared forever, the northern waterfront next fell in the sights of developers.

"The State Belt Line Railroad was built across the cove in 1913, and the clubs had to continually fight to prevent the Harbor Commissioners from dumping the borings from the Fort Mason Tunnel in front of the docks of the clubs.  If the clubs' access to the water were cut off, that would be the death knell of the clubs and public access to the cove.  The harbor commissioners went so far as to remove part of the South End dock at one juncture.

"Young Mitchell"

"Ed Scully, a South End member since the early 1890s, led a fight to protect the site as a park and to get the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to commit the city to conversion of the cove to an aquatic park.  Scully and others forged an alliance with organizations interested in public health, welfare, and recreation.  Old-time South Ender John L. Herget, a member of the board supervisors and well-known as 'Young Mitchell' from his days as a championship boxer, helped on the political front.  Beginning in 1909, the clubs held a series of Aquatic Park Days to publicize successive ballot propositions to finance park construction.  (Several striking photographs survive from these events).  Although all ballot measures fell short of the two-thirds approval needed for passage, the board of supervisors, in 1918, went on record in favor of an aquatic park for the citizens of San Francisco.  The city spent the next decade acquiring the property necessary for the park.  Then the Great Depression hit.

"The city was able to build Municipal Pier (known as Muni Pier) in 1931, but funds ran out.  The State of California did some work in 1932 and 1933, but also lacked the funds to carry the project through to completion.  The federal government took on the construction of Aquatic Park as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in late 1935.  We not only have the park, but posterity also benefits from the fact that the WPA had a photographer come through the park nearly every month from 1936 to 1938 to provide a graphic record of progress on construction.

Maritime Museum Building

"What is now the Maritime Museum Building was intended to be the home of the Dolphin, South End, and Ariel clubs.  The South Enders did not like the building, because there were no handball courts; Dolphin Club members wanted their own clubhouse.  The streamline Moderne building, with its Benny Bufano murals, basically sat empty until Karl Kortum, a chicken farmer from Petaluma, approached the board of supervisors with the notion of a Maritime Museum for San Francisco, and the Aquatic Park building as the museum.  Alma Spreckels was Kortum's financial backer.

Fort Sutter Riverboat

"Kortum brought several vessels into the park, but the situation came to a head in 1953, when the Fort Sutter, an old riverboat that had made the run from Sacramento to San Francisco, was brought into the cove by Kortum associate Barney Gould.  The intent of Kortum and Gould was to turn the decrepit hulk into 'high-tone' restaurant, bar, and gambling casino.  The hulk was run up on the beach right next to the eastern comfort station.  The rowing clubs, just next door and dwarfed by the decayed vessel, complained on numerous counts, and the old tub was moved to the western side of the park in late 1953.  It sat there and decayed even further over the next six years.  Finally, a group of four young men, rumored to be South End Rowing Club members, doused the deck with gasoline and set the tub ablaze.  It is said the flames could be seen from Berkeley."

The members of the Dolphin and South End clubs regularly tell one another how fortunate we feel to have access to such a sublime and magical realm.  We can thank the pioneering members of the clubs for fighting to create a public haven.  We can also thank the successive members whose continuing vigilance preserved our distinctive niche.  We can now add Bill Pickehaupt to our "thank you" list as someone who has captured and preserved the history of the creation of Aquatic Park.